JAHAZ

(Jaʹhaz) [perhaps, a trodden or open place].

A city E of the Jordan and evidently situated N of the Arnon. It was probably wrested from the Moabites by Amorite King Sihon. (Num. 21:23-26) At Jahaz the Israelites defeated the forces of Sihon, and the city itself became a Reubenite possession. (Deut. 2:32, 33; Josh. 13:15, 18, 23; Judg. 11:20, 21) Subsequently Jahaz was designated as a Levite city for the Merarites. (Josh. 21:34, 36) Later in Israel’s history the city came under Moabite control. On the Moabite Stone King Mesha boasted of having taken Jahaz from the king of Israel with two hundred warriors. Also, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah mention the city in pronouncements Against Moab.—Isa. 15:1, 4; Jer. 48:1, 34.

Although geographers have suggested several possible sites for ancient Jahaz, its precise location remains unknown.